Murder trial begins in case of Brampton, Ont., boy found beaten and starved

The list of injuries and indignities suffered by 10-year-old Shakeil Boothe before he died is sobering to read.

The boy's father, Garfield Booth, and stepmother Nichelle Boothe-Rowe are charged with second-degree murder in the May 2011 death of Shakeil.

He'd been beaten, stomped, starved and in his final weeks chained to his bed before finally succumbing to pneumonia, Crown prosecutor Kelly Slate told the opening Monday of the couple's trial in Brampton, Ont., The Canadian Press reported.

The child, who'd come from Jamaica just two years earlier to live with his father and stepmother, hopefully to have a better life, instead was systematically brutalized and starved, the Crown alleges.

Evidence at the trial recalls the 2002 starvation death of Jeffrey Baldwin of Toronto, who died locked in his urine- and feces-stained room by his grandmother and her partner, who had guardianship of him.

Elva Bottineau and Norman Kidman were convicted of second-degree murder in Baldwin's death.

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That case turned into an indictment of Ontario's child-protection system in part because Bottineau was convicted of abusing her first baby — which subsequently died in 1969 — and Kidman served time for assaulting two of her other kids.

The role of child-welfare authorities in Shakeil Boothe's case remains to be detailed. But the Crown, outlining its case Monday, told the trial Claudette Booth, Garfield's stepmother, called the local children's aid society two days before his death after discovering Shakeil was chained to a bedpost, the Toronto Star reported.

She had little inkling, apparently, of the torment he'd already endured.

Paramedic Michael Niffin described how the boy was discovered May 27, 2001, lying under a white sheet on his bed. His body, scrawny from malnourishment, was stiff and cold to the touch, suggesting he'd been dead for awhile before his father dialed 911, Niffin said.

"There was discolouration around this side of his face," said Niffin, according to the Star. "It was dark."

An autopsy put the cause of death at a combination of penumonia, infections, malnutrition and physical trauma, what Slate described as "injury on top of injury." There were open wounds on the body. The Crown also alleges Shakeil was beaten with a leather belt.

"Shakeil did not get to that state overnight," Slate said in a marvel of understatement.

Things changed for Shakeil after Nichelle Boothe-Rowe and Garfield Boothe had a baby of their own in September 2010, the prosecutor said.

Shakeil, who neighbours said previously had been a "happy but shy and quiet boy," stopped going to school or playing outside. When they asked after him, they were told he was inside playing video games.

[ Related: Abuse, malnutrition killed boy, 10, while in the care of father, stepmom: Crown ]

Slate said public-health nurses who visited Booth-Rowe and her baby "saw no sign of another child living in the house," Slate said, according to CP.

Shakeil was taken out of school by his father after displaying some behavioural problems. When the principal followed up, Garfield Boothe said the boy had gone back to Jamaica to live with a grandparent, the Star reported.

A worker from the Peel Children's Aid Society, responding by phone to Claudette Boothe's concerned report, was told Shakeil had moved to Oshawa to live with his mother. Garfield Boothe promised to call back after checking on his son, but never did.

Garfield Boothe was originally charged with failing to provide the necessities of life, while Boothe-Rowe initially faced a manslaughter charge.